Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
President Muhammadu Buhari says high-profile individuals, including a member of the national assembly are those financing secessionist leaders like Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho.
Buhari said this on Friday during a nationwide address to mark Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary.
In his address, the president said his administration is pursuing financiers of these secessionist leaders, adding that “decisive actions” will be taken against secessionist agitators and their sponsors, who threaten the country’s national security.
Buhari said “unfiltered and unsubstantiated lies and hate speeches” being peddled by “evil persons” must be stopped, while asking media houses and commentators to move away from “reporting irresponsible remarks”.
“I will therefore take this opportunity, on this special day that symbolises the unity and oneness of our great nation, to ask all Nigerians to embrace peace and dialogue, whatever your grievances,” he said.
“The seeds of violence are planted in people’s heads through words. Reckless utterances of a few have led to losses of many innocent lives and destruction of properties.
“Such unfiltered and unsubstantiated lies and hate speeches by a few evil persons must be stopped. Our media houses and commentators must move away from just reporting irresponsible remarks to investigating the truth behind all statements and presenting the facts to readers.
“We must all come out and speak against the lies being peddled. At this point, I would want to sincerely appreciate the large number of our traditional, religious and community leaders as well as other well-meaning Nigerians who, in their various fora, are openly spreading the message of peaceful co-existence and conflict settlement through dialogue in their respective communities.
“Nigeria is for all of us. Its unity is not negotiable. And its ultimate success can only be achieved if we all come together with a common goal of having peace and prosperity for our nation.
“We shall continue to work on dialogue based solutions to address legitimate grievances. But we remain ready to take decisive actions against secessionist agitators and their sponsors who threaten our national security.
“The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals.
“We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the national assembly.”
